Genealogical and historical information and links for anyone researching their ancestors in England and the British Isles

 Home ==> Information ==> Monarchs buried at Westminster Abbey

 <== Tower of London


Winchester
 ==> 

Monarchs buried at Westminster Abbey
Monarchs Royal consorts and heirs Famous people

Westminster Abbey has been the site of a monastery since the 8th century but it was the Anglo-Saxon monarch Edward the Confessor who rebuilt it into the Abbey that is the basis of the structure today.

On Edward's death in 1066 he became the first of a long line of monarchs to be buried there, a tradition that continued into the 19th century when it was superceded by St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The spouse of the ruling monarch, or royal consort, was often buried in the Abbey alongside them.

Another tradition which has continued up until the present day, began with William the Conqueror, who on Christmas Day 1066 became the first monarch to be crowned at the Abbey.

Many famous people have also been buried in the Abbey. In 1400 the poet
Geoffrey Chaucer was buried there since when that part of the Abbey is known as Poet's Corner.

The following is a list of the monarchs who are buried in the Abbey.


Anglo-
Saxon


Plantagenet Lancaster York Tudor Stuart Hanover


Anglo-Saxon

Edward the Confessor
King of England
died 1066 ---


   

House of Plantagenet

Henry III
King of England
died 1272 Portrait
Edward I
King of England
died 1307 Portrait
Edward III
King of England
died 1377 See Note 1 Portrait
Richard II
King of England
died 1400 Portrait


   

House of Lancaster

Henry V
King of England
died 1422 Portrait


   

House of York

Edward V
King of England
died 1483 See Note 2 Portrait


   

House of Tudor

Henry VII
King of England
died 1509 Portrait
Edward VI
King of England and Ireland
died 1553 Portrait
Mary I
Queen of England and Ireland
died 1558 Portrait
Elizabeth I
Queen of England and Ireland
died 1603 Portrait


   

House of Stuart

Mary, Queen of Scots
Queen of Scotland
died 1587 See Note 3 Portrait
James I
King of Great Britain and Ireland
died 1625 Portrait
Charles II
King of Great Britain and Ireland
died 1685 Portrait
Mary II
Queen of Great Britain and Ireland
died 1694 Portrait
William of Orange
King of Great Britain and Ireland
died 1702 Portrait
Anne
Queen of Great Britain and Ireland
died 1714 Portrait


   

House of Hanover

George II
King of Great Britain and Ireland

died 1760 Portrait



Notes
1. Edward III was originally buried at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire but his body was moved in 1413 to Westminster Abbey.

2. Edward V was one of the two "Princes in the Tower" who were imprisoned and murdered in the Tower of London in 1483. It was not until 1674 that what is believed to be their skeletons were found in the Garden Tower and it was these bones that were then buried at Westminster Abbey.

3.
Mary, Queen of Scots was originally buried at Peterborough Cathedral, Northamptonshire. In 1612 her son James I, had her body moved to Westminster Abbey.

Information Genealogy in England